The Edmonton Oilers took a bold approach to free agency, giving money and term to a couple of fancy stats darlings. Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Benoit Pouliot and Mark Fayne.. The Oilers Get: LW Benoit Pouliot, D Mark Fayne and D Keith Aulie. Pouliot, 27, has been a hockey nomad, bouncing from team to team in recent seasons, but hes been pretty good at each stop along the way. While playing for four different teams (Montreal, Boston, Tampa Bay, N.Y. Rangers) in the past four seasons, Pouliot has put up strong possession numbers in each stop and hes been a pretty effective goal-scorer in limited time. He had a career-high 36 points in 80 games for the Rangers last season. The issue that crept up with Pouliot, and was particularly notable during the Rangers Stanley Cup run, was his alarming tendency to take offensive zone penalties and that lack of discipline can be frustrating but, in the grand scheme, Pouliot has been drawing more penalties than he takes. He has good size and plays enough of a physical game to get under the skin of the opposition from time to time and Pouliots willingness to go to the net could give him a shot at a 20-goal season if he ends up playing a bigger role in Edmonton. Where Pouliot fits with the Oilers is a bit of a question. He looks like a third-line left winger -- thats the role that hes handled effectively -- and the Rangers do have enough talent on the right side that they could have some decent offensive production out of their third line. While Pouliot is lauded by those who appreciate advanced stats, most would do a double-take before signing any third-line winger to a five-year contract. Maybe five years and $20-million was the cost of doing business, but that does seem like a serious commitment, particularly if there isnt room for Pouliot among the Oilers top six forwards. The Rangers have some holes to fill up front, and knew that they would not be able to get him re-signed at market prices, especially when the Oilers were willing to spend at this level. Fayne is a 27-year-old defenceman who has good size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and plays a sound defensive game, something that is sorely needed in Edmonton. There were two defencemen in the league who played tough opposition, started more shifts in the defensive zone yet finished with a better shot differential per 60 minutes than Fayne. One was Zdeno Chara and the other was Faynes frequent partner, Andy Greene. The interesting part of that possession success is that, last season, Fayne was the weak link in that pairing -- Greene had much better possession stats (54.2 Corsi%) without Fayne than Fayne had (47.2% Corsi%) without Greene -- but that was a flip of the year before, when Fayne was at 57.2% without Greene and Greene was 54.4% without Fayne. Ultimately, Fayne has been a reliable defensive defenceman who should upgrade the Oilers and, signed for $14.5-million over four seasons, hes not unreasonably priced if he can handle top-four minutes in Edmonton. The Devils have some young defencemen on the way up, including Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson, that can take over some of the minutes that Fayne had been playing. 25-year-old Keith Aulie is a 6-foot-6 defenceman who has played 136 career NHL games, but has been crushed in possession terms, over his four NHL seasons. Hard to imagine that hes anything more than a spare part, even for the Oilers. While Pouliot and Fayne arent marquee names, they have been quietly solid players for several seasons. While the Oilers went long on Pouliots term, they were aggressive to acquire a couple of players that ought to make them more competitive. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap Royals Jerseys .com) - The Vancouver Canucks recovered from a fluke goal early last time out to knock off one of the top teams in the league. Royals Jerseys 2019 . Appearing on TSN 690 Monday afternoon, Mike Babcock said he had conversations with both P.K. Subban and Carey Price about those on-ice traits during Hockey Canadas summer orientation camp. Mike Babcock: McGill experience, P. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . The move will give Hentgen the "time needed to support his family and his fathers current health issues," the Blue Jays said in a release. Hentgen spent 10 of his 14 big-league seasons with the Blue Jays, winning a Cy Young Award in 1996. Fake Royals Jerseys . Pospisil, from Vancouver, and Sock will compete for the title against defending champions and top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, who defeated the 12th-seeded French duo of Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Wholesale Royals Jerseys . Six years of waiting are finally over for the Dallas defenceman. Daley had a goal and an assist, Kari Lehtonen recorded his fifth shutout of the season, and the Stars clinched their first playoff berth since 2008 with a 3-0 victory against the St.INDIANAPOLIS -- Adreian Payne and Michigan State have that March look again, and the Spartans think their best basketball is in front of them. Next up is another showdown with Michigan. Payne scored 18 points, Branden Dawson had 14 and No. 22 Michigan State beat No. 12 Wisconsin 83-75 on Saturday to reach the Big Ten tournament championship. The third-seeded Spartans (25-8) won consecutive games for the first time since an 11-game run ended in January. They will meet the top-seeded Wolverines in the final on Sunday. "Were just scratching the surface," Payne said. "We didnt play at a high level before just because we havent had time for everyone to play together for a long period of time. This tournament has been great because weve been able to play with each other more and were starting to look better." Dawson scored in double figures for the second straight game after getting off to a slow start in his return from a broken right hand. He went 6 for 8 from the field as the Spartans shot 56 per cent against the defence-minded Badgers. The Spartans went on a 16-1 run in the first half and took a 37-16 lead when Gary Harris scored with 5:39 left before halftime. "I thought we played some of our best basketball of the year in that first five minutes," coach Tom Izzo said. "Wisconsin is very good. I thought we played awfully well." Frank Kaminsky had 28 points and Sam Dekker added 11 points and seven boards for the second-seeded Badgers (26-7), who were outrebounded 32-28 by the Spartans. Michigan State was swept by Michigan during the regular season, but it has a perfect record in conference title games. The Spartans last championship came in a win over Ohio State in 2012. The first half against Wisconsin was one of the best periods Michiigan State has played all season.dddddddddddd. Traevon Jacksons layup helped Wisconsin close to 21-15 with 10:43 left in the first half, but the Spartans responded with a 16-1 run that included three three-point plays. Payne scored and Denzel Valentine hit a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a 26-15 lead. Then Dawson was fouled on a layup and made the ensuing foul shot. Bronson Koening made a free throw for the Badgers before Payne and Travis Trice had consecutive three-point plays. Trice then forced a turnover and Harris scored on a fast-break layup to increase the lead to 21 with 5:39 left in the first half. It was pretty much a total breakdown for the Badgers in the first half, a surprising start for a team that was being mentioned as a possibility for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. "Ball movement, body movement, shot selection, its never just one thing," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "Its a combination of things. We werent very fluid, but we found that fluidity." Wisconsin trailed 43-26 at the break, but it rallied in the second half. Dekkers dunk capped an 8-2 spurt that trimmed Michigan States lead to 51-41 with 15:02 remaining. The Badgers got within seven when Jackson made a pair of free throws with under four minutes to play and again when Jackson hit a 3 with 51 seconds remaining. But the rally fizzled from there. "We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and we were trying to climb out of that hole that entire second half," Kaminsky said. "We didnt have enough left in the tank to get over that." Jackson finished with 10 points for Wisconsin, which shot 28 per cent in the first half. The Badgers have dropped two of their last three games and lost for the first time this season on a neutral court. ' ' '